


The Hollow: 10 Levels

by ComplicatedYetSimple



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: Appropriate tags will be added and altered when updated, Changing POV, Conflict, Doppelganger, Gen, Headaches, Headaches & Migraines, Memory Loss, Mild Language, Minor Violence, Self-Hatred, The Ishibo, Video Game Mechanics, Waiting Rooms, White Room, but it's not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24374296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComplicatedYetSimple/pseuds/ComplicatedYetSimple
Summary: The players and the makers of The Hollow are surprised when the game doesn't end after Adam, Kai, and Mira press the button.Instead, it seems they will have to play more and more increasingly difficult levels, discover move about their powers, themselves, and the shady origins of the game they call, "The Hollow".Book 1Follow Adam, Kai, Mira, Skeet, Reeve, and Vanessa as they search for a missing treasure while traversing a land pummelled with ice and snow from the nearby Glacier Dragon. Together, and apart, they will encounter a wide variety of NPCs, such as a greedy king, a fat prince, a disturbed plant child, funny hazmat rabbit people, a misanthropic tree, an island of neglected kids, and the 'Boy who cried "Terrorists!"'.Please enjoy the cohesive story that ties the whole level together, a wonderfully crafted overarching plot that will leave you thinking, "How could they have been so stupid?!"The Hollow: 10 LevelsBook 1 - Lednik
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Self Conflict

**Author's Note:**

> I have been coming up with this story really ever since season 1 came out, and I had a general concept of what I wanted before season 2 came out. In this story, not only do the events in season 2 never happen, but a lot of things from it will be completely disregarded, such as the character's families and family lives, as well as the fact that the characters are friends in real life and are teammates.  
> It's essentially taken me a year to get this much done, lol! In my defense, I did about 30% of this chapter in the last week or so. It's not much, and I'm not entirely sure if I will be continuing it or not, I might just leave it here. Depends on how many people leave nice comments XD  
> Even if I do continue the story, I'll probably end it at one level. Who knows.
> 
> NEED TO KNOW  
> 'This means internal thought... Yeah, pretty similar to regular speech, I know.'  
> ~"This means the words within are written, for example, the paper with Adam's name on it will appear like this"~  
> Constructive criticism is ENCOURAGED I LIVE for people to tell me I did a bad job, so please do that!  
> I appreciate you spending your time to read this. If you like the concept at all, or, anything, please leave a comment.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam wakes up in a room, however, this time Kai and Mira are nowhere to be found. All he has with him is the Ishibo, but will it be able to protect him from the aggressively familiar being in the room with him?  
> Read and find out.

A male about the age of sixteen lies motionless on the floor. His arms sprawled out, left hand up beside his head. The teen has a handsome face, square jaw, thick eyebrows. His short black hair and brown skin tone, contrasting against the white tile flooring. His other hand lays atop his stomach over a dark gray t-shirt with the image of a lighter gray squared spiral on the front. His chest slowly rises, up and down as he soundly sleeps.

However, the moment of peace does not last for long.

With a sudden gasp, the boy awakens, a fading migraine screaming at him to reach for his head, eyes squinted as he grumbles in pain.

Turning his head, he attempts to open his eyes, vision blurry before shortly coming into focus. To his left, he notices-and quickly dismisses-a wooden staff standing in a weapons rack against the wall.

The teen props himself up onto his feet with his arms and stands. However, just as he became fully aright, he shouts, a hand immediately reaching towards his head and face contorting into a pained grimace. He staggers back and falls into the wall behind him, grasping his head within his hands as the migraine continues.

And then, it is over.

Relief washes over the teen as the boy's hands drop to the floor beside him. He closes his eyes, resting a moment before releasing a deep sigh and opening them once again.

Only to be met with an unfamiliar room. With a gasp, the boy presses himself into the wall, eyes darting all around studying the new environment. Deciding there is no immediate threat, the teen pats himself down, searching for injuries, wincing when touching his back. He begins to pull up his shirt to check the would, but his hand pauses over his left pocket. Looking down, he reaches inside and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper.

He unfolds it slowly, revealing a simple name.

~ "Adam" ~

My eyes widen as memories suddenly flood my thoughts, scenes replaying before me that I hadn't realized I had forgotten— my fight with Akuma, the battle against Colrath, Mira, Kai.

"Gyaa!" an intense sharp pain throbs through my entire head as the migraine returns. The memories continue to swarm through my mind. But not all of them do, no — only memories from the past two days, nothing before then.

But those memories aren't the ones that matter right now. Currently, what matters is the memories from the past two days.

Two days. Exactly how long I've been inside the game.

"The game!" Immediately the migraine and grogginess from before disappear as adrenaline opens up my senses, and I become hyperaware. My blood, pumping faster through my veins as fight or flight kicks in.

"Kai, Mira!" I shouted, spinning around. I checked the room once again, fists raised—a 20-by-20 foot room with white walls and an 8-foot ceiling. White-tiled flooring, in the center of the room, a pair of green footprints. On the wall across from the prints appeared to be a timer, ticking down from 00:00:28:26. A suspicious gray square floats at around chin height between the two. To the right side of the room stands a wooden weapons rack and within it.

"The Ishibo!" I rush towards the staff, clutching it to my chest soon after grabbing it.

I try to keep myself rational, "Okay, one less thing to find, now to find Mira. And Kai too.", but inside I'm fuming. 'I thought we finished the game. Why am I still here?'. Since there was nothing else within the room, I turned towards the footprints from before, only to be greeted by a disturbingly familiar face— my own.

He grins devilishly. "Heh, it's about time you woke up."

An identical figure to myself stood at the center of the room, back straight and arms crossed, his posture screaming belligerence as he looked me up and down in a condescending manner. There was a particular malicious hostility to his voice that caused my stomach to churn and my mouth to dry. I grip the Ishibo firmly, before giving it a good spin as I thrust it before me, showing off my proficiency as I activated its power.

I shout, trying my best for a severe and threatening tone, but the dryness of my mouth gets the better of me, "Wh... What are you?"

His eyes, my eyes, widen in surprise as he watches me wield the Ishibo. For a moment, a small feeling of victory wells up inside me for being able to surprise him before he lowers his arms, his grin growing into a short laugh. "I'll be honest. Ahah! I didn't expect you would actually know how to use that thing!"

He glances the Ishibo up and down studiously for a moment before acting as though he suddenly remembered I was there. "I must admit, I'm impressed. You're not as useless as I thought you were."

That's what he says, but his posture, his every word, it all oozes with a condescending attitude. He is mocking me.

My grip tightened more as I took a step forward and thrust the Ishibo towards him once again, "I said, what are you?"

He grins, "Well, I'm certainly not our brother!" he suddenly bellows a hearty laugh, finding his statement rather amusing.

Shocked and confused, my eyes widen as I lower the Ishibo, "Brother? ... W-wait, you still have your memories?!"

The identical male's eyes dart to the side, a strange expression crosses his face, but only for a moment before returning to a look of total confidence. He scoffs, stuffing his hands into his pockets while taking a step to the side and towards me, his eyes not looking at me but instead scanning the room. "Of course, I still have our memories. Unlike _you_ , _I_ never lost them!"

I scrunch my eyebrows, shaking my head and pointing the staff at him once again, "You're not making any sense, what do you mean by _'our'_ memories?"

He stops in his tracks and turns towards me, a look of complete disdain evident on his face. "I'm you."

My face drops. For a moment, I'm just surprised, before the anger begins to rise within me. The suggestion that the two of us were the same person offended, no, _insulted_ me!

I step towards him aggressively, "No, we're not!"

He thrusts his hands out, stepping forward and getting right up to my face with just as much if not more aggressive energy. "Well, we are! Just one of the many miracles of The Hollow!"

We glare at each other, dead in the eyes for several moments.

I turn away first, dropping my arms and the Ishibo, hesitantly to my sides.

He scoffs, remaining put, slowly looking me up and down.

Disgust, anger, frustration, all well up inside me. A gross cocktail of emotions I had no outlet for, and no idea of what to do with them. I try not to move, to make a sound. To do anything that would draw his attention to me. He won.

But that doesn't cause him to leave me alone. He is still only inches away from me, with me at the focus of his full undivided attention.

"Weak." The doppelganger finally steps back after what feels like forever, but what was likely only a single minute.

He then spits before turning away from me.

My jaw drops and eyes widen as I quickly raise my left hand to the damp place on the side of my face.

That was my last straw. As his back was still facing me, I took hold of both ends of the Ishibo and rushed him, purple glow emitting from the staff as its power activated before colliding with his back. He cries out in pain as the hit produces an energy blast, throwing him into the opposing wall before finally he slumps into the floor limply.

I take advantage and cross the room, standing over him. He writhes in ache, coughing as I raise the Ishibo, aiming it towards his face. "Stop acting so high and mighty. I'm the one with all the power here. I want to know where I am and what's happening," I pause, letting my tone grow dark, "so talk!"

The doppelganger wheezes a short laugh, "Come on then, do it! I'm weak, defenseless, unarmed, and on the ground. Hit me!"

I hesitate, eyes glancing away from him for a moment. I breathe in and glare at him, dead serious. "I _will_ do it, now start talking!"

Something about my threat causes him to cackle in a fit of laughter, "Haha-aha! Well, that certainly was quick. You're becoming more like me already." a heavy maliciousness hung from his words.

Annoyed, I call up the Ishibo's power, "I am nothing like you, and no matter what you claim, you are most certainly not me! Now tell me what I want to know, or else!"

The duplicate sits up and stares directly into my eyes with an unamused hollowness. "Uhuh, 'I am nothing like you,' says the guy who _struck_ me in the _back_ , as I was _walking away_."

I growl, "Fine, if that's how you're going to be then I guess we'll just have to do this the hard w-" before I can finish my sentence I suddenly stop cold, dazed as I suddenly remember what caused the pain in my back, my mind flashing to when Reese attacked me with the Ishibo- _nearly killing me_. How Mira and Kai were so worried that I was going to die, all the things they went through to help me. My knees feel weak, and the staff depowers as my stomach churns, I drop it to the ground. My mouth feels parched as I come to be aware, 'I just did the same thing Reeve did to me.'

The other "me" watches me. Eyes squinted, eyebrows raised as he mumbles something to himself too low for me to hear.

I shake my head, 'Don't let him get to you. Focus, how do I get out of here?'

I try to ignore him, attempting to recollect my composure. I look back to the rest of the room, eyeing the cube and footprints.

I notice the duplicate moving towards me. I step back defensively.

He rolls his eyes and leans forward, picking up the Ishibo. "I'll be holding on to this… Can't exactly say I _trust_ you with it anymore." He swings it over his shoulder, making it a point that I see the sharp glare he is giving me before finally, once again, turning away from me.

It seems I will not be getting the Ishibo back from him anytime soon. A sigh escapes my mouth, unsure how I should feel about that.

"Well, _**shit**_!"

My head turns towards him, surprised by his sudden outburst, he is standing over the footprints staring at the wall. He quickly looks in my direction, my back straightens as he makes eye contact, "We got a problem. There's a freaking _timer_."

My body jolted, I look up at the timer from before.

00:00:21:01

I watch as the number changes from twenty-one to twenty.

My look-alike throws his arms, raging as he stomps on top of the green prints within the floor. He huffs. "Are you finished staring at it yet, or would you like a minute alone with the thing?!"

I blink, staring at it for a moment before ripping my eyes away.

00:00:20:53

A dull pain starts to throb in my head.

'Great, _just great_ , another nuisance to deal with!' I lift a hand to the side of my head, hoping to quell the ache before it gets worse.

I look from the prints to the square, searching for some type of clue. I take note of how the square has height and length, but no width.

I groan, my investigation only leaving me even more confused and head not feeling any better.

"I completely forgot about the timer," I admit, looking at it once again. "And we've wasted _ten minutes_!"

Not even a second after, I feel a hand swat the side of my head, hard.

He looks me down with another of his contorted expressions, "I _don't care_ about your weak excuse, nor do I appreciate your stating the obvious! I've _actually tried_ , instead of just staring at it as you have!" He waves his hand as he turns away, leaning his head against the staff. " _You_ do something."

My hands ball into fists as I stare at his back, a seething feeling spreading through my being as I try to control my breathing.

My headache hurts like hell now!

I consciously unclench my hands and let out a long breath, repeating 'ignore him' in my head over and over as though a mantra.

The seething feeling burns out after a third breath. I retain my attention back towards the green footprints in front of me. I lift my foot, thinking back to when _other me_ was stomping on the image.

I position myself in front of the square and over the prints, placing both feet precisely atop them.

Immediately, a gentle, low ringing sound emits from the square as it expands quickly. The music attracts the attention of my double, who turns in time to see the square grow to about two feet wide and tall.

Words and a loading icon appear on the square; it seems to be some type of interactive screen.

~"Welcome Player #6"~

He stomps up to the screen, "How did you get it to do that?"

I roll my head and glower at him, "I stood on top of the footprints." I make sure to say it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He scowls, his knuckles turning white from his grip on the Ishibo tightening. "I _tried_ that. I did it _fifteen_ times!"

A bubbly feeling rises within me, and a pleased smile spreads across my face. "Maybe it just likes me?"

He seethes, but the screen changes before he can get a comment out. But even if it didn't, I would have ignored him. I give all my attention to the interface before me.

~"Player Menu"~

I'm going to get out of here and find Mira and Kai!


	2. The Interface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam and his dubious doppelganger must work together to interact with the mysterious player interface. Adam discovers new powers and becomes just even more confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so APOLOGIES this whole chapter is gonna confuse the heck out of you.  
> Also, APOLOGIES, but the writing quality drops from here on out. I spent six months and more editing the first chapter. I published this one as soon as I was done lol.
> 
> This story will focus heavily on mechanics and 'magic system' that I created specifically for this story, the characters interact with these mechanics through their player interface much like you would with an actual menu screen. The problem is, video games are a visual medium for the most part, whereas this, is entirely text.  
> In other words, it was REALLY hard to find a way to portray Adam interacting with the menus in a way that you the readers can understand.  
> And it's very possible you won't. But that's not important, because it confuses Adam just as much as it does you, I assure you.
> 
> Writing this was very fun for me though.  
> If you hate the way I formatted it please say so. The whole system message and player interface is very confusing to deal with, and my goal is to make it as easy to read as I could get it to be. If it's really difficult to understand _please_ say so.

I give all my attention to the user interface before me.

~"Player Menu”~

We stare at it for a moment. I reach out and tap it, opening the information available for “Player #6”.  
“What the hell is this?!”  
Startled by his outburst I cover my left ear, “It’s the player menu, duh, what does it look like?”  
He glares at me puffing out his chest a little, “No Jackass! I’ve been playing The Hollow for years, and I can tell you with certainty, that there is no ‘player menu’!”  
I release a slow breath, “Well there is one now, so let’s just look at it, okay?”  
He rolls his eyes but doesn’t object.  
I turn back to the screen, reading off everything, most of it is things I already know, name, age, gender, etc. But there are things I don’t quite understand that seem expandable, Rune, Equipment, and Feats. Everything else seemed to be locked.  
Frowning, I tap the one reading ‘Rune’, opening up a display. In the top right corner is a symbol that cooled like a fist, below was information.  
“The ‘Fighting Body’ rune is a variation of the ‘Physical Body’ rune, providing greatly enhanced physical abilities, especially those concerning melee combat. It provides the following-” I read aloud, only to be interrupted by the look-alike next to me.  
“I already know this!” he shouts, rapidly tapping at the back button on the display only for it not to respond, much to his frustration. He takes hold of my hand and lifts it up to the button. It reacts and we are brought back to the previous page.  
I jerk my hand away, “Well I didn’t know any of that! There was still more to it!”  
He rolls his eyes and points towards the button reading ‘Feats’. “It doesn’t matter. Click this. You deal higher damage and receive bonus points from fighting, losing will cost you though. 'Physical Body' multiplies your strength by eight. That’s pretty much the gist of it. I chose it because of how many violent fights I’d get into playing the games, haha!”  
I watch him from the corner of my eye, he’s smiling to himself, as though what he’d just admitted was a good thing.  
I ignore it and press ‘Feats’.

The monitor emits a loud ‘Ping’ sound, and a message pops up.

~"System Message”~  
”You have, 10, new or unchecked feats!”  
”Would you like to view them?”~  
~[Yes]~ / ~[No]~

The doppelganger and I send each other an identical glance and raise an eyebrow. I selected ‘Yes’.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Melee Combat}, gained through your rune selection. This feat provides additional skill, +5% damage, and +5% critical chance in melee combat. DEBUFF- all skill, damage, and critical chance in ranged combat is halved.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Defeat Katsuro}, gained through combat. This feat increases Strength by 2%.

~"System Message”~  
Hidden conditions 2/2 fulfilled. Rune {Physical Body} + feat {Defeat Katsuro}. Runic ability {Summon Strength} has been added to the [Rune] menu.

~“System Message”~  
You have obtained the runic ability {Summon Strength}, gained through meeting hidden conditions.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Killed Akuma}, gained through bringing forth Akuma’s demise.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Akki’s Favor}, gained through obtaining the Monolyth’s favor. Performing deeds of great positive worth will inflict you with a related temporary blessing.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Akki Trials Champion}, gained through successfully passing the Akki Trials. This feat provides the [RARE] job {Akki Monk} and skill tree.

~“System Message”~  
You have obtained the job {Akki Monk}[RARE], gained through completing the Akki Trials.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Staff Efficiency}, gained through the use of a high-grade staff type weapon. This feat provides additional skill, +2% damage, and +2% critical chance when wielding a staff weapon. DEBUFF - makes learning to use other weapon types more difficult.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Blunt Weapon Efficiency}, gained through the player preference of using blunt type weapons. This feat provides additional skill, +2% damage, and +2% critical chance when wielding a blunt weapon. DEBUFF(x2) - makes learning to use other weapon types more difficult.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Zombie Killer}, gained through killing the most undead monsters. This perk provides an additional 7% damage and critical chance against undead enemies.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Battlescarred}, gained through receiving a single massively critical wound from an opponent and survived. Remembering the pain, this feat provides a 10% chance to dodge an attack that would otherwise hit. DEBUFF- your wound will occasionally become agitated, weakening you by 30%. DEBUFF- being struck in the wound automatically takes critical damage.

~"System Message”~  
You have obtained the feat {Defeat Colrath}, gained through victory in battle against the dragon. Perk provides a choice between +5% fire resistance perk or +5% electric resistance perk.

~"System Message”~  
Feats can be combined with each other. This action cannot be undone.  
~~

Somewhat overwhelmed I try to read back and remember anything that seems important ‘Debuff, becomes agitated 30% weaker, zombie damage’ but my train of thought is interrupted when _that guy_ blocks the screen with his hand, pointing to the back button.  
“Okay go back to Rune, I want to see what this is.” he taps the ‘Defeat Katsuro’ feat.  
I let out a frustrated growl despite trying not to. “We were just there, you said you already knew it all! I’m trying to figure this stuff out so give me a few minutes!”  
I lean closer to the display, trying to ignore him as I pour over all the new information.  
His hand swings down close-fisted into the back of my neck, I quickly place a hand over it and spin towards him, jaw clenched, “What the heck?!”  
His eyes roll, “If you paid better attention it wouldn’t have happened! Now I said go back to ‘Rune’, I want to see what that new ability does and so should you!”  
I take my hand away from the back of my neck, it doesn’t hurt, just stings. The headache is coming back.  
“I said I’m trying to figure this stuff out first!” I huff, gesturing to the long confusing list of ‘feats’ on the screen.  
He looks me directly in the eyes as he lets out a long, tired groan. He points at the screen, “Look, we don’t have time for dumb-ass you to figure this all out.”  
My eye flickers back to the timer.

00:00:14:45

I get a bit jittery, and my heartbeat begins to pace. 'That’s less than half of what I started with. Not good.'  
He begins pointing stuff out as if doing so was the most obvious thing in the world. “Listen, I know the stats, you start out with 3% crit hit chance, this melee feat brings it up to 8%, if you're using a staff, it’s 12%, so stick to that. If you have to change your weapon, go for something blunt, use slicing and piercing items only if absolutely necessary and completely avoid ranged combat if you can. Which is scarier, fire, or electricity? Depending on your answer, choose that. This ‘Battlescar’ feat seems pretty random, I would not rely on it. We don’t know what it means by ‘agitated’ so be careful and watch your back.”  
He laughs, pointing to ‘Defeat Katsuro’, ‘Zombie Killer’, and ‘Killed Akuma’ feats. “I told you, eheh. Lots of violent fights.” He beams a surprisingly charming smiling at me, before turning away from the interface with a bored expression, jerking his thumb back towards it.  
“That’s all the good info. We’ll see what it means by ‘Job’ after we go back and check ‘Rune’.” He starts patting his pockets, looking for something but still watching me from the corner of his eye. “...Any questions?”  
Realizing I was staring, I quickly jerked my head back to the screen, tapping for the ‘Electricity Resistance’ perk, before going back to the main menu.  
I glance at him, trying to study him as he quietly mumbles to himself. I tap to go back to the ‘Rune’ menu.  
I tap my foot, clenching and unclenching my hands. I try to look away from him for a second before sighing, defeated. I look at him, aiming to make eye contact, “Hey um, thank you... For explaining it the way you did, I mean.”  
He stills for a moment, shrugging, never looking my way. “Don’t mention it. Really. Apologizing is disgusting.”  
He turns back to the interface as a familiar ‘ping’ goes off.

~“System Message”~  
You have, 1, new runic power.

~“System Message”~  
Runic ability {Strength Summon} Lv 1, summon an additional 40% of your strength for 4 seconds. Cooldown is 4 hours.  
~~

I frown, “Forty percent for four seconds? And I got to wait four hours to use it again? Honestly, that’s kinda disappointing.”  
I couldn’t help but notice the dumbstruck look on his face as I said that. He suddenly flails his arms around, “Am I always this stupid?!” He pokes a finger at my chest, “You, are an idiot!”  
I brush my hand away, confused. He huffs. “Everyone starts with a base strength of 100%, depending on their age, sex, and physical build points are then either added or subtracted, whatever they get is then divided by ten and that becomes the numerical value depicting their strength. Every point of strength equals five pounds easily lifted, you cannot deal unarmed damage higher than your strength stat, your critical hit chance if half it.” he taps my chest and then his own, “You and I, our base strength stat is 110%, that’s pretty high, considering most people get below a hundred! The ‘Defeat Katsuro’ feat from before adds another 2% onto that, after dividing it ‘Rune’ will then multiply it by eight! Do you know what this means?”  
I pause, attempting to think it through for a moment… Well, pretend to anyway. Begrudgingly, I shake my head no and let him continue.  
He sighs, “112 divided by 10, multiplied by eight and rounded up equals 90. Use summon strength and it’s 126. You can deal a maximum of 126 points of damage with your bare hands, ‘Melee Combat’ increases it by 5%. Using a staff instead of your hands would increase it by 9%, land a critical and your damage dealt is doubled, and then round up…” he grips my shoulders tightly, “This “disappointing” four-second ‘Strength Summon’ can let you one-shot kill some boss monsters with a devastating 275 points of damage maximum!”  
I don’t quite understand everything, most of it flying over my head, but I got the gist of it. I suddenly sense my body leaning into him, I feel my stomach drop and I suddenly become dizzy.  
He huffs, pushing me back onto my feet. “Get yourself together man!”  
My stomach is so queasy, if there had been anything in it I would have puked. “I feel sick.”  
He growls, losing patience with me. “Grr-ugh! You’re such a wuss! You're acting just the way he did! Keep at it and you're going to make me puke!”  
I try to swallow the non-existent puke down, I huff, still very queasy. “Don’t you think this is just too much too? Isn’t it way overpowered?!”  
He crosses his arms and rolls his eyes, “Not particularly, no.”  
I walk away, the interface closing behind me. Placing both hands against the wall and leaning forward, panting some. ‘He just doesn’t get it.’, I think back to when I accidentally threw Kai, just by pushing him. ‘This strength. It’s disturbing.’  
Pressing my forehead against the wall, I close my eyes and just breath. The rude look-alike stays on the other side of the room, and I feel like I can finally relax some.  
And I do.  
I don’t know how much time has passed when he finally does interrupt my peace.  
“Look, I know it’s better for you to do this here and now than somewhere else, but can you finish up your gross show of weakness and check the rest of this ‘Player Menu’? I can’t interact with it, remember?”  
Annoyed, I let out one last breath before pushing myself away from the wall and approaching the interface. I step on the footprints in the center and it opens back up with it’s little ringing tune.  
I check the timer.  
00:00:04:36  
I look at him with a raised eyebrow.  
He sighs, as though exasperated. “I can tell when I need to have some alone time. Now go to the ‘Equipment’ menu, I want to see that.”  
I do as he asks and I tap the menu, another ping.

~“System Message”~  
You have, 1, new item!

~“System Message”~  
You obtained {Ishibo}[Legendary]. A powerful magical weapon that can deal massive damage. Equip- yes / no.  
~~

My doppelganger looks at the weapon he’s been holding for so long with a newfound interest, “Using this, your damage output would be much higher… Equip it.”  
He isn’t even paying any attention to me. I roll my eyes, reluctantly selecting to equip the staff. I go back to the main menu and now tap ‘Job’.  
The familiar ping barely grabs his attention.

~“System Message”~  
You have, 1, new job available!

~“System Message”~  
Job {Akki Monk}[RARE] has been unlocked, obtained by completing the Akki Trials. Equip job tree- Yes / No.

~“System Message”~  
Jobs can be changed at any time.  
~~

We send each other an identical questioning glance. He shrugs, “It says it’s a ‘Rare’ job, so it’s probably good.”  
I stare at it warily. “I don’t know. The Akki Monks were the bad guys.”  
He rolls his eyes, “Bad people can have good jobs. And from what we can infer, this is a pretty good job.”  
I rub the back of my neck, unsure for a moment, before finally pressing ‘Yes’.

~“System Message”~  
Are you sure you want to choose this job? [RARE] jobs cannot be unequipped once selected. Yes / No.  
~~

I turn to ask him what he thinks, he just motions for me to continue. “Oh, uh… Okay then.” Once again, I select ‘Yes’.  
More pings.

~“System Message”~  
You have equipped the job {Akki Monk}, you obtain the Title {“Disciple”}.

~“System Message”~  
You obtain the feat {Spear Efficiency}, gained through the Job {Akki Monk}. This feat provides additional skill, +2% damage, and +2% critical chance when wielding a spear weapon. DEBUFF(x3) - makes learning to use other weapon types more difficult.

~“System Message”~  
You obtain the feat {Piercing Weapon Efficiency}, gained through the Job {Akki Monk}. This feat provides additional skill, +2% damage, and +2% critical chance when wielding a piercing weapon. DEBUFF(x4)- makes learning to use other weapon types more difficult.

~“System Message”~  
You obtain the runic ability {Meditation}, gained through the job {Akki Monk}. Runic ability {Meditation} has been added to the [Rune] menu.

~“System Message”~  
Hidden conditions 2/2 fulfilled. Feat {Killed Akuma} + feat {Akki Monk}. Title upgrade to {“The Most Venerable”}, obtain item {Akki Monolith}.

~“System Message”~  
Title upgraded, from {“Disciple”} to {“Venerable”}.

~“System Message”~  
Title ungraded, from {“Venerable”} to {“The Most Venerable”}.

~“System Message”~  
Item obtained {Akki Monolith}, gained through meeting hidden conditions.  
~~

To both of our surprise, suddenly a wooden door appeared in the wall behind us, it had two horizontal planks.  
But the pings don’t stop.

~“System Message”~  
You obtain the feat {Akki’s Disdain}, gained through horribly wronging the monolith. All positive Akki effects are removed. Akki inflicts you with {Akki’s Curse}.

~“System Message”~  
The feat {Akki’s Favor} is removed.

~“System Message”~  
Conditions cannot be met. The fear {Akki’s Favor} cannot be removed because you possess the item {Akki Monolith}.

~“System Message”~  
You obtain the feat {Akki’s Curse}, gained through obtaining {Akki’s Disdain}. Everyone will see you for the inner devil you really are.  
~~

I stare at all the messages for a moment, before panicking, ‘I don’t understand any of this!’  
I quickly try rereading them, which causes my double to groan and again try to explain it to me. “You got a new ability, go to ‘Rune’. You’re as good with spears as you are with blunt weapons, just don’t throw it.”  
I relax some. “But, what about this weird curse?” I point to it on the screen and he leans forward, reading it aloud.  
“‘Everyone will see you or the inner devil you really are’.” He clicks his tongue, “Well that seems ominous.”  
I wait for more input, but he doesn’t give any. “Wait, so that’s it?”  
He shrugs, “It’s just as ambiguous as the one about the wound becoming ‘agitated’. At this point, all we can do is ignore them until we figure out what they actually do.”  
I grind my teeth, groaning. “I don’t like being cursed.”  
I’m immediately smacked in the back of the head, I react, shoving him away from me, “What is your problem?!”  
He points to the screen and yells just as loudly, “And I don’t like it when you ignore me! There’s a new ability and I told you to go check it!”  
I throw my head back in frustration, ‘This guy is just so difficult!’. I go to the ‘Rune’ menu.

~Rune: {Fighting Body} subvariant of {Physical Body}~  
~Runic Abilities: {Summon Strength}, {Meditation}~

~“System Message”~  
You have, 1, new runic ability!

~“System Message”~  
Runic ability {Meditation} Lv 1, through calm meditation you can condense your energy into specific areas of your body and thus changing how your powers will grow and manifest.  
~~

He scowls, “I don’t get it.”  
I decide to just leave the screen at this point, turning around as I head towards the door.  
Seeing there was no type of knob or device to grip, I placed my hand on the wood and began to push.  
I’m quickly slapped in the back of the head. Once again. And the sad part is, I’m finally used to it.  
I face him, giving him the most annoyed look I can muster up. He just rolls his eyes and jerks his thumb at the timer.  
00:00:00:36  
“Oh… But what about this?” I nod my head to the door.  
He sighs, shrugging, and waving his hands in a highly dismissive manner. “You’ll either never need it, or you’ll get the chance to use it later… But at this point, I just think it would be for the best to stay in here until the timer turns to zero.”  
I nod my head, not really finding any kind of fault within his logic.  
He passes the Ishibo to me and I take it, hesitantly. We look back to the timer, seventeen seconds remain.  
He clicks his tongue, “Serious talk though.” he faces me, making eye contact. It’s the first time neither of us breaks is right after. “I was told there would only be one level, but it’s quite apparent you’ve already been through one. So I don’t have a clue what’s going on here.”  
He shoves his hands into his pockets, offering an awkward grin.  
“That being said, don’t come back.”

00:00:00:03

00:00:00:02

I tighten my grip on the Ishibo, and smile back, “I don’t plan on it.”

00:00:00:01

00:00:00:00

**THE HOLLOW: 10 LEVELS**

**Book One - Lednik**


End file.
